Hanukkah AND Christmas!

Yes, that's right...my kids are spoiled!  They are fortunate enough to be able to celebrate both holidays.  I know it's going to get a little more tricky as they get holder, but for now, they are pretty darn happy to get a double dosage of presents!

Hanukkah was VERY early this year, on December 1st.  I made sure the kids had a present to open each night and we lit the candles each night as well.  On the 4th, we had a small Hanukkah party at our house with a few family and friends.  While I was cooking and cleaning, Jason took the girls to the movie theater to see Tangled.  I'm pretty sure they ate a lot of candy!  By the time they got home, it was party time!  The Miller crew was supposed to come, but Morgan had to go and break her arm which lead to emergency surgery!  Peter showed up to represent the family though!  Sydney and Lizzy had a blast eating and playing with Lily, Jake, and Nathan.  I think the highlight of Sydney's night was that she got "Twinkle Toe Sketchers" from Grandpa.  They also got some pretty sweet furniture from Grandma Sharon for their Bitty Babies.  All in all, it was a really fun night.

Skipping ahead now a few weeks later...CHRISTMAS!!  We headed to Jason's parent's house in Midland, which we do every single year.  It kind of works out well that my family doesn't celebrate, so we never have to decide on which family to celebrate the holiday with.  Jason (I mean...Santa) bought the kids a TON of presents, so our car was packed!  When we got up to Midland, we went to the Santa House with Tyler.  That was NOT my favorite.  We had to wait outside for like 2 hours in the freezing cold...I don't do so well in the cold!  Lizzy and I had to sit in the car for a little bit, but we lasted most of the time.  They had a big blow up santa that she loved for some reason.  She kept saying, "BIG Santa, BIG Santa" really loudly!  After about an hour and a half, she went and stood at the front of the line and chanted, "open the door, open the door, open the door."  It was really cute and she still keeps saying it all of the time!  FINALLY they got to see Santa and Sydney was so upset because her pants were wet, but we threw her on his lap and she shaped up really quickly...this girl is all about the presents!!

The next day, they opened up all of their loot and then we headed to Polly's sisters house for dinner with all of the family.  We had fun and ate pretty well! 

The next day we decided to go to Traverse City for a day to see my Grandpa and cousins.  Although I was glad to see them, and the kids had a blast, it turned out to be a BIG mistake.  When we woke up the next morning, Peyton threw up and everyone knows about my phobia and how I can't deal with it.  So, we packed up and left instantly so we wouldn't catch it.  TOO LATE!  We made it back to Midland just in time for Sydney to start throwing up.  I was so beside myself...Jason had to do everything.  Finally she stopped and was in bed just in time for Lizzy to start throwing up.  It was such a disaster having two kids sick at the same time.  I think I stayed up the entire night, I was just a wreck.  Fortunately, Jason's mom and sister were very helpful as I was useless!  I felt so bad for Jason, but he handled it great!  The next day we all just laid around the house, the kids ran slight fevers and were really miserable.  I was so tired and out of it that I just laid on the couch all day.  Finally, the next day we went home.  We had been gone for 7 days so it felt so amazing to finally be back home.  I thought all of this sickness was behind us until that night, Lizzy started throwing up AGAIN!  This time I didn't have Jason's family to help out.  Jason still did most of the work...I did the laundry, but that's it.  Jason ended up sleeping on Lizzy's floor and took the day off of work...which I was very thankful for.  We kept Lizzy in her room the ENTIRE day and just hooked up a DVD player in her room and she watched videos all day.

Finally, today (Friday), I think everyone is finally feeling better!  Jason went to work and I cleaned the house while the kids played with all of their new toys.  I think they were happy to finally be home and to be able to play with eachother.  I'm sad though that this week is slowly coming to an end.  I always hate that stretch after Christmas break with no holidays...just a whole lot of work...what a bummer!  Tonight for New Years it looks like we are just laying low to make sure the kids are fully recovered....and let me tell you...they better be!

We shall see what 2011 has in store for us!

Recital

This past weekend, Sydney had her first dance recital ever.  She had been practicing a routine in dance class, but when I asked her if she knew what recital meant, she had no clue.  So, I was a little worried how she would react when she saw the stage.  I kept telling her she would be on a stage and she would say, "no, the stage is just pretend."  Obviously in dance class the teacher must have been telling the kids to pretend that they were on stage, but Sydney was confused and thought the stage wasn't real.

We had to arrive a little early for dress rehearsal and when Sydney saw the stage, she kind of looked petrified.  They practiced their routine twice and were all so awful that it was cute.  They had no idea what they were doing and had to watch their instructor in the wings.  There was also a 4th grader who had helped out in the class as a demonstrator and the poor thing had to wear the same costume as the the 3 and 4 year olds.  She went on stage with them for the recital, so half of the kids watched her and the other half stared off into the wings.  Kids were just basically looking every which way and all off rhythm.  But, I have to admit, Sydney did an amazing job.  I was very impressed.  She came out with a smile on her face and rocked it way better than rehearsal.  I was so proud of her!

I was also very surprised with Lizzy.  I thought she would be terrible in the audience.  She loved the entire show though.  She would keep saying, "what's next, what's next?"  She was a dancing machine sitting on my lap and would mimic all of the moves the kids on stage were doing.  It was so adorable.  She wanted to get up on that stage so badly.  After intermission, they sent the "little kids" back to the audience with their parents.  So, Lizzy took Sydney's hat and thought that if she put it on, that she could go up on the stage and dance.  I had to chase after her once...we were sitting really close to the front in an isle seat...so she was pretty darn close to that stage!  I ended up letting her dance in the isle next to me...she really had a blast.  Maybe Lizzy will be our dancer (she had some moves) and Sydney will be a swimmer.  Only time will tell!

(That's her stop taking pictures of me face).

When Life Gives You Lemons...You Make Lemonade!

Well, this Thanksgiving weekend didn't go quite as planned, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.  It all started when I picked Lizzy up at daycare on Tuesday night.  The poor thing had a fever and sounded like a barking seal.  The saddest part was that, every time she coughed, she would cry and she just looked so pitiful, so I took her to the doctor.  They confirmed that she had croup and didn't like the way she was breathing, so we had to put her on breathing treatments.  We were supposed to go to Midland the next day, but since Polly hasn't been feeling well (for almost a year now) we couldn't take Lizzy there and expose Polly to anything because she is very susceptible right now and we had to be careful.  So, that threw our plans completely out of whack.

I ended up staying home from work on Wednesday to take care of Lizzy.  So, the positive side to that is that I got an even extra long weekend and I was able to clean the house and do the laundry...none of which would have gotten done had I gone to work (I can only imagine how clean and organized my house would be if I didn't work...).  But that night some friends were getting together and even an old friend, Beth was flying in from California and I was going to have to miss out on the gathering because we were going to be in Midland.  So, I was excited that I was able to get together with the girls.  I even took my heartbroken Sydney with me...she was so sad and cried the whole day because she couldn't go to Midland to see Tyler...sure, she likes her other cousins too...but she LOVES Tyler.  It was nice for her to at least go somewhere! 

Fortunately, Jill came to the rescue on Thursday and met Jason half way so that we could get Sydney to Midland and put a smile back on her face.  She was ridiculously excited to go.  I was a little sad not to have her home for Thanksgiving, but she was doing what she wanted to do.  By Thurday night, Lizzy didn't have a fever, but just a little cough so we went to my mom's new boyfriend's house for Thanksgiving.  His name is Ira, but Lizzy refuses to call him by his name.  She calls him "guy".  She even says it to his face..."hi guy".  It was kind of last second...but at least we still got a nice meal!!

The rest of the weekend revolved around my old college roomate, Angela's wedding.  I was standing up in the wedding, so we had to go for sure and I still had Lizzy on my hands.  She was supposed to be in Midland with Sydney while we were in Mount Pleasant for the wedding.  Fortunately, Jason's cousin Kim came to the rescue and offered to watch Lizzy for us.  It was the most convenient option since she lived in Midland as well, so both of my kids were at least in the same city!

The wedding weekend was a ton of fun.  Since the wedding was in Mount Pleasant, there was no way that I wasn't going to hit up the casino...and that's exactly what we did after the rehearsal dinner!  I can't say we won, but we didn't lose big.  I lasted a pretty long time at the blackjack table, since I wasn't so lucky with craps.  While I was playing, Jason managed to keep himself busy at casino bar...supposedly they have really cheap drinks!  Don't worry...I drove home!  The next day we partied until the DJ stopped playing.  It's nice when the party is also at the hotel you're staying at!  It was also nice because we (well, more like Jason) was pretty whipped after the 3 hour party bus and then the reception!  We don't get to have fun like this very often, so we definitley enjoyed ourselves!  And the best part is that Angela married a great guy...make that an excellent guy, because he's also a fellow Spartan!!

So, even though are long weekend started out a little rocky, we were able to make the best of the situation (with the help of Jill and Kim) and it ended up to be quite nice.  Lizzy now has a favorite babysitter for the next time we go out of town.  I'm pretty sure Lizzy cried for a good hour and a half because she didn't want to come home!  She must have been spoiled!

Halloween Weekend

Wow...another Halloween came and went...but man, was it quite an event.  We had so many Halloween celebrations this year, I could hardly keep up!

The festivities began the Wednesday before Halloween at Sydney's school.  The class had a party and a school parade. What a difference from last year where I was like the only parent in the class who showed up.  There is a ton of parent involvement this year which is so nice to see!  Sydney is in an excellent class with well behaved kids and great teachers...I'm pleased with how this year is turning out!

The next day was the Halloween party at daycare.  Sydney wore her Sleeping Beauty dress and Lizzy dressed up as Minnie Mouse.  Lizzy was so consfused as to why they were putting costumes on first thing in the morning...she wasn't too happy and cried when I got her dressed.  Sydney is of course always thrilled to wear a princess dress whenever possible.  Once Lizzy got out of her funk and realized a party was inolved...she was all about it....of course!  I'm sure they ate plenty of junk!

On Friday we went to Canada to visit my Aunts and Uncles.  We hadn't been there in a while so it was great to catch up.  Sydney and Lizzy are obsessed with Mama Mia so they put in that movie and had a blast dancing to the music.  It was a family affair...everyone got their groove on.  By the end of the night, everyone was exhausted!  Sydney was out like a light when we got in the car, but Lizzy was on a sugar high...she just couldn't resist all of the candy that was around their house...I'm not surprised!  Now I know how my parents felt when I was young and wouldn't stop talking on a long car ride home.  It used to drive them nuts!  So...I guess I was just getting a tast of my own medicine!

The next morning I packed the kids in the car so we could finish buying Jason a birthday present.  He kind of always gets the shaft having his birthday the day after Halloween...we're usually always busy doing something!!  After that, we stopped at Lily's house to borrow a costume for Lizzy, but we ended up staying all day.  They were having a Halloween party in their common area so the kids threw on a couple of princess dresses and went to collect their treats...I mean, they weren't going to get enough the next night, right?  Finally we went home so Lizzy could take a little nap...and then it was off to Zoo Boo.  So we had to put on costumes for the second time that day.  Sydney decided she wanted to wear the costume that we had borrowed for Lizzy, but it worked kind of well because Sydney was a cat, and Lizzy was a dog...so we took our little pets to the Zoo to collect MORE treats.  Lizzy had fun sitting next to Nathan in the stroller and all of the kids got along well and had fun together!  It was much better than last year...maybe because Lizzy was more interested!

Finally...Halloween Sunday!  We took Jason out for lunch to celebrate his birthday since Sydney had dance class the next night on his birthday.  We just went to Olga's...simple, but good!  We bought Jason a new pair of shoes, pajama pants, a new casual shirt, and an alarm clock for his I Phone.  I never know what to buy him..men are so difficult!  I'm easy...just expensive!!  That afternoon we carved the pumpkins and made a gingerbread haunted house.  It was kind of a pain in the butt, but Sydney enjoyed decorating it.  Later, Grandma Sharon came over so she could pass out the candy and the kids got into their costumes for the last time...thank goodness.  Sydney wore her Strawberry Shortcake costume and Lizzy really wanted to be the dog again even though she was supposed to wear the cat costume.  They had SO much fun trick-or-treating this year!  Savannah even got to come with us, but I made Jason hold the leash so that I could be nosey and look into everyone's houses...I like to see how other people decorate!!  We got home way later than I anticipated because they had to hit like every house in the neighborhood. Lizzy was funny...they would open their door and instead of saying "trick-or-treat", she would say, "I have a nose" (she thought it was pretty cool that I painted her face).  Then they would put the candy in her bag and she would get all upset because of course she wanted to eat it right away.  So, she would ask if she could "have one more for her hand."  Is she too young to have a conversation about greediness? We have way too much candy in my house right now...two huge bags full.  It is not proving to be an easy task to hide it from Lizzy, but we're trying our best.  I would say this was a successful Halloween (with lots of costume changes).

Surprise...Disney On Ice

Last weekend I decided I would do something special with Sydney, just her and I.  Our schedule is so hectic and we're always running here and there and I feel like we never stop moving.  So this was a chance for us to just spend a little time together.

So, I purchased a couple of tickets to Disney on Ice, but I didn't tell anyone.  I especially didn't tell Jason because I knew he would tell Sydney and I wanted to surprise her.  The day before the show, we were at the MSU game and I had told Karen that I was taking Sydney and when we were saying goodbye, she told me to have fun tomorrow.  Well, naturally Jason wanted to know what we were going to have fun doing, so he found out that I bought the tickets.

Sure enough, the next morning, Sydney comes banging on my shower door all excited.  She said, "Daddy said to today is my big day and that you have a surprise for me."  I knew he would tell her something, I just knew it.  But at least he didn't tell her where I was taking her.  The entire day she guessed that we were going to the Shop-o-Rama, aka...the mall.  She calls it a shop-o-rama because of one of our favorite books (Llama Llama Mad at Mama).  She assumed that I was taking her to buy a Belle dress.  There is a big story behind that one, and she never seems to forget!  When we were at Disney World last year, she settled for a Cinderella dress because she wanted instant gratification and they didn't have her size in a Belle dress.  But she pretty much asks on a daily basis for a Belle dress for the past year.  We haven't given in yet!  So anyway, I told her she could where her Cinderella dress to the place I was taking her.

When we arrived at the Palace, she was a little surprised that it wasn't the mall.  But when we went in she was so excited to see that all of the kids were all dressed up like her.  Finally, she realized we were at Disney on Ice.  She was super excited and had a ton of fun.  I caved and bought her a snow cone in a really expensive Tinkerbell cup, but she loved it!  She was happy that I took her and even said thank you, so that made me feel good.

But then we got in the car to leave.  She asked where we were going next.  I told her we were going home and she got very upset and moody.  I was like, "where did you want to go?  Haven't I done enough?"  And of course she responded that she wanted to go to Toys R Us to buy a Belle dress.  There was no way I was doing that, so she pretty much cried the whole way home until she finally fell asleep.  It kind of put a damper on the day, but she did wake up fairly happy!  So, all in all, it was a good day, but that kid still doesn't have a Belle dress.

I wonder how much longer I have to hear about this darn dress!

Lizzy Lately

And now for everyone's favorite installment of what I like to call "Lizzy Lately".  At Lizzy's age, things are constantly changing.  One day she like Elmo, and the next day it's Dora...but then probably back to Elmo the next day!  Anyway, with everything that goes on around all of us, there is one thing that has remained constant since the day Lizzy was born, and that is...her love of food!  We just can't find a way to get her out of the cupboards.  Of course we tried, but the not so handy people that we are...she ripped the baby proof aparatus right off of the darn door!  I swear, she eats from the time she gets home from daycare until bedtime, so we try to keep her pre-occupied so she doesn't think about food.

So, last night we took Sydney to her swim class (which she made it up to the next level last night...Gliders! Go Sydney!!) and Lizzy knows that they sell candy there.  Jason and I sat down to watch Sydney swim and of course Lizzy went right up to the counter sulking, hoping someone would give her candy.  Eventually she went up to Jason and asked for a sucker and started begging for money and tried to search in his pockets for money.  We felt kind of bad that we had this annoying kid begging for candy while everyone was trying to watch their kid swim, so we bought her the dum-dum sucker...it's not like it was a chocolate bar.  Plus, she's super jealous that she can't swim too, so we gave in.  This made her pretty darn happy...until it was gone.  And then it started all over again..."can I have a sucker?"  At least everyone around us was laughing...I'm telling you, she's obsessed!  We are going to have issues when Halloween rolls around!  But this is just an example of how she never stops thinking (or begging) for food!

Let's see...what else!  She seems a little more interested in the potty...but definitely not ready to be potty trained yet.  But when she's pooping....she likes to be alone and will tell you to leave the room.  Sydney did that when she was close to being trained...so hopefully soon!  Anyway...last night I got out of the shower and was putting my pj's on and Lizzy went in the bathroom, slammed the door shut and opened up one of the drawers next to the door so I couldn't get it opened.  I knew she was pooping, but I didn't like that fact that she was in there alone.  But, I could see her a little bit because the door would open just a little bit until it hit the drawer.  This is what she did...she opened up my makeup and rubbed it all over her face, and then got out the makeup brush and put that all over her face, she dumped out all of my stuff that was in my cosmetic bag, and then she got out Jason's blue deoderant and decided that it looked like lipstick.  She kept saying, "I have to put on my wipstick, for my wips" and looked at herself in the mirror.  Of course I was yelling at her the whole time, but couldn't get in.  Finally she opened up the door so I could change her diaper, but we are going to have to do something about this door issue...we have a little troublemaker on our hands!

One more cute story.  Last night I was awoken at 2:30am by a loud scream..."mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy."  So I ran to Sydney's room, but she was fast asleep.  Lizzy never wakes up, but much to my surprise...it was coming from her room.  I went into her room and she was standing up in her bed, and I asked her what was wrong and she said, "the twinkle twinkle star is going to get me".  At first I thought she wanted me to sing her Twinkle Twinkle Little star, but as soon as I started singing she said, "Nooooooo, don't sing that....sing Rock A Bye Lizzy".  And so I did, and she went right back to sleep.  Poor kid is having nightmares about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!

School Fun

Sydney is loving her school this year.  She especially likes the fact that she has the same teachers as last year.  I think she has adjusted great to going to school all day!

The first big activity of the year was the Trike-A-Thon, which is the school's big fundraiser.  Student's basically have to get pledges and then they ride their bikes around the school for a half hour.  I guess the theory behind it all is that no one really wants to buy crap, so students just collect money and it goes directly to the school.  It seems kind of weird to me, but my family, friends, and co-workers were happy to give Sydney a little money.  I couldn't actually attend the event during the day, but Jason was able to make an appearance and cheer Sydney on!  Apparently they had a blast and there were only two crashes!

The second activity happened today...a trip to Erwin's Apple Orchard.  I took a half day of work so that I could attend with Sydney.   The weather was absolutely perfect...67 and sunny, so it made for a really great afteroon with my favorite little four year old.  It was fun to watch Sydney interact with her friends and also to meet the other parents.  She had so much fun picking apples and searching for the right pumpkin.  They gave each kid a bag to put the apples in, and when Sydney's was full, she got the bright idea to start putting them in her coat pockets...I had a great day with her.  However, I must say...Sydney did not want me to go on the trip with her.  Last year, when she went on this same trip, Grandpa Eliot took her and so she really wanted him to take her again.  The entire way there she begged me to call him to come instead.  But once we got there, she was happy to be there with me!

We are looking forward to many more exciting activities.  The year has only just begun!

Go Right Through for MSU!!

I guess I'm trying to make up for lost time.  Two posts in two days! 

Anyway, this past weekend, we decided to take the kids to their first MSU game.  We figured it was the perfect weekend since we were only playing Northern Colorado (not a very good team), and because it wasn't too cold out yet.  If were against a good team, the crowd would be a lot rowdier and packed!  So, this was perfect!  We decked them out in their MSU gear.  They were so cute and had an absolute blast.

Sydney decided to sit with Grandma Polly and Grandpa Joe, so we took Lizzy with us to our seats.  We actually got to watch the game because Lizzy was really busy eating Cheerios, licorice, skittles, fruit roll-up, Nutrigrain bar, cheez-its and a hot dog...she can still put food away like a champ!  One day it will catch up to her.  Everyone thought she was cute and she clapped and cheered when everyone else did!

For the second half, since it was already to the point where we were slaughtering the other team, there were plenty of seats opened up where Sydney was sitting, so we moved to their seats and sat with our family for the rest of the game.  It was fun to watch the kids cheer, dance and sing together.  It turned out to be the perfect MSU outing...and we won, of course!!

On Sunday, since Sydney wants to go somewhere everyday ( I swear, no matter what day of the week it is, she always asks what we are going to do that night, as if I didn't work all day!) we took the kids to the Franklin Cider mill!  We met Julie, Adrian, baby Finley, and Julie's parents there.  Apple Cider and donuts are always good, I never get sick of it.  Lizzy liked the huge water wheel, she kept going back to look at it.  Somehow Sydney convinced us that needed to get a tattoo on her face, and daddy gave in!  It was cute though, she picked a little unicorn.  We had a really good time.

Later in the day, Sydney really wanted to go to Adrian's soccer game, so I took her while Lizzy was still napping and Jason was watching football.  She seemed to enjoy watching, so I asked her if one day she might want to play football. I told her it would be good to play on a team sport and learn the rules. And her response, which was totally unprovoked was, "no, I think I'll just be a cheerleader.  Those kids are getting really tired running around, and I don't want to get tired."  So we'll see...I guess she's not destined to be a soccer star...but I do want her to play on some sort of team!  I guess cheerleading could be considered a sport...I dunno...but not for 4 year olds!

To top off the great weekend, I won my football league for the week...no thanks to the Lions, who didn't even cover the spread...guess I didn't need them anyway, so ha!

Happy Birthday to Us!!

Well, just as I knew would happen, I've been slacking on the blog postings, but better late then never!  So, I'm backtracking all the way to September 9th (only 19 days ago, not too bad) to when Lizzy and I shared OUR birthday.  I know, it's pretty much Lizzy's day now, but we're trying to teach her to share just a little.

Since our birthday fell on a Thursday, we really couldn't do that much, but I wanted to do something for Lizzy.  I made sure I put little birthday signs all over the walls for her when she woke up that morning.  She was excited to see the Wiggles, Elmo, Barney, and Mickey Mouse hanging on the walls.  She walked around and kissed all of them.  They actually stayed up for two weeks, she loved them so much!  Anyway, Jason spent the day with kids that day since daycare was closed for Rosh Hashanah...I worked, as usual.

That night Grandma Sharon, Grandpa Eliot, and Josh (who was in town for a couple weeks following his Africa trip) joined us at Jungle Java so the kids could run around and do something fun!  They actually had a blast.  Sydney was acting all motherly that day and helped out all of the little kids who were there playing there.  Although, Lizzy was on her own.  I guess Sydney only wanted to help out other kids who she didn't know...who knows?

After much debate over whether or not the kids would eat Chinese food, we went next door to Shangri-La.  Afterall, they can't eat hot dogs and chicken nuggets every day!  They were both really good, and surprisingly enough, they actually tried things.  Lizzy LOVED edamame...we even had to order more.  She loved the sizzling rice soup too, she kept saying, "mmmmmmmm, soup."  She also enjoyed the rice and noodles too.  Every time the waitress brought something out she would say, "oh, thank you".  She thought everything was for her.  The funniest part was when they brought out the sushi.  They brought it out on a nice big platter and it looked all pretty.  Lizzy said, "ohhhhhhh, cake."  We told her was sushi, and that she probably wouldn't like it, but she insisted on eating the "cake".  So, we gave her a piece, and just as I thought, she said, "I don't like sushi cake."  But hey, she tried it.  Sydney ate a little bit of chicken and rice, so everyone was happy and I got to eat ONE of my favorite meals...since everything is my favorite.  We will definitely have to take the kids for Chinese again, it was a good experience.

Then, present time!  Lizzy pretty much already got all of her presents at her party, so this part was more for me.  Jason went to Nordstrom and picked out a pair of shoes for me.  I was very impressed that he actually did that.  I never would have guessed that I was getting shoes, so it was a surprise...and a nice one.  He did a good job...he actually was listening one day when I was babbling that I had nothing to wear with brown...however, I ended up getting the same pair in black.  But, not because I didn't like them, but because he bought me the wrong size and they didn't have my size in the color he bought.  But black is better for me anyway, I will get way more use out of the shoes.  I get a TON of compliments on them.  I still want to get a subscription to Shoedazzle.com where they send you a shoe of the month...so I'll drop a subtle hint here in case anyone out there is reading this and can't think of anything to buy me for the next time I might need a gift!  My mom bought me earrings and my dad gave me money which I put towards a new dining room table.

Lizzy and I had a wonderful birthday together.  I'm looking forward to many more!

Labor Day Weekend

Wow...what a busy weekend, but oh so fun!  Jason and I started the weekend out right with a little trip to East Lansing to watch the Spartans win the first game of the season!  This is the first year we bought season tickets, so there better be many more wins in our future.  Not only do I like to go to winning games, but Jason is not a happy camper when any of his teams lose, so it just makes for a better day all around if they win all of the time!  Sydney and Lizzy stayed home with Grandma Sharon and Uncle Josh!  The kids even got all decked out in their favorite MSU gear to cheer them on from home!

The next day was the big day!  We decided this year to combine Sydney and Lizzy's birthday parties since their birthday's are a month apart.  For the most part they have all of the same friends right now, so why go through the hassle of planning two parties, right?  It's just double the food, double the money, and double the amount of work.  Anyway...it was the BEST party.  We had it at Franklin Athletic Club.  It was so perfect because it accomodated all of the age groups that we had there.  They blew up a bounce house, a huge slide, a rock climbing wall, an obstacle course, and had little balls and toys for the really little kids.  The best part, in my opinion, is that we had the entire place to ourselves.  I hate going to Chuck E. Cheese with all of the parties going on and all of the chaos.  This party was just for us and everyone there was there for my kids and it was so much fun.  The staff there was excellent too.  They set up and decorated everything, they served the food, they gathered up all of the presents for us...it was just really stress free on my end, and I was able to actually enjoy the party...oh AND my house wasn't trashed as in previous years.

We invited family back to the house and had the kids open their presents at home.  I figured that kids really don't care about presents unless they are for them.  So, I gave the kids more time to bounce at the party and then opened up the presents at home where we could actually read the cards and tell the kids who got them what!  They received some awesome presents.  It really was a great day with family and friends!

And last but not least, Labor Day.  Last year we went to the Temple Israel carnival and had so much fun that we went again this year.  The weather didn't really cooperate but we managed to get a little fun in.  It's so amazing...the whole event is free...free food, free bounce houses, free pony rides, free train rides, etc.....maybe that's why every Jewish person in town goes to this event...I probably shouldn't say that, but oh well, I just did!  We met up with Jake and Jennifer there, but it was hard to actually stay together because all of the kids wanted to do different things.  Lizzy had her first pony ride!  She was pretty nervous the whole time, but she stayed on.  The horse ended up pooping, which is what she remembers about the whole carnival.  When she talks to anyone on the phone she says, "Ewww, the horse pooped", as if anyone has any clue what she's talking about!  And then when the rain came, we kind of bolted without saying goodbye.  I felt bad, but we couldn't find them, and well, I kind of melt in the rain...darn curly hair!!  So the day kind of ended early, but I had a lot to do around the house anyway and had to get prepared for Sydney's first day of school.  Stay tuned...

Miss Independent!

Wow, how quickly they change!  Lizzy just went from a sweet little innocent girl who didn't care what she ate, what we were doing, or where we were dragging her, to a self sufficient toddler with an attitude!  If you give her a green cup, she wanted a pink one.  If you put on Elmo, she wanted the Wiggles.  If you give her a sandwich, she wanted a hot dog!  It's a constant battle these days to get her to eat her dinner when not to long ago I stated that she would eat anything!  Now her favorite phrase is, "I don't like it" and throws it on the floor for the dog.  So, she has had many days of no dessert for not eating her dinner!

And I don't know why all kids go through the phase where they have to do every little thing by themselves!  I remember Sydney did the same thing, and she still does, which is probably where Lizzy gets it from.  It just makes everything take longer.  Lizzy likes to get in the car by herself, which is hard since she can't reach, but she sees Sydney doing it.  Then, she has to buckle the carseat by herself.  She clearly can't do any of these things, she is way too small, so everyday she has a tantrum because I helped her get into the car.  Then, she cries over the music.  My strange child likes Mama Mia, so if Sydney picks a song she doesn't like, she just cries, "I don't want that" until you finally put on something that she is satisfied with.  Then when we get out of the car, she has to climb down by herself and shut the door by herself, which usually results in her banging her head.  Then she rubs it into Sydney's face..."I closed the door Sydney, and you didn't".  I don't know why she says that because Sydney doesn't even care...she closes her own door!  I think she likes to be the boss and tell people like it is!  When we go outside to play, she tells the dog, "you're not going Savannah" and shakes her little finger at her.  Or when she is watching her show, she will say to me or whoever is making too much noise, "you go in the other room".  She even tells Sydney what to do, and oddly enough, most of the time Sydney plays or does what she says.

The other day I was taking the garbage out and she was waiting for me, but she said it was hot (which it really was) and that she was going inside to watch the Wiggles.  So, she banged on the door for someone to let her in, and I'll be darned...she went into the playroom, got out the Wiggles, put it in the DVD player, and pushed play.  Then I heard her say to herself, "I'm firsty" (thirsty), and she went in the kitchen, opened up the fridge (which she never used to be able to do), got out her cup and went back to watch her show!  Guess I'm useless these days, she can do everything herself.  Not really, of course, but it's amazing how much she can do all of a sudden.  Even little things like turning on the water when she brushes her teeth, a meltdown if I do it.  Or getting into the bathtub.  I am so scared that she will slip and bang her head, but she insists that she is getting in by herself.  I still hover over her though...she is growing up way too fast!

The up side to all of this is that she completely wears herself out and is still my good little sleeper!  The only caveat to that is she has to have specfic blankets or stuffed toys in her bed.  Every morning, there is a pile on the floor of any blanket or toy that didn't make the cut for that night.  But once she is comfortable, and we've sang a song or two, she is out for the night!  She tends to sing to herself in bed for a while, but she doesn't bother us and is quite content entertaining herself!  We even have to wake her up in the morning!  I better knock on wood that her sleeping pattern continues!

We will have to see what happens when she actually turns two!  Stay tuned!

Sydney's Birthday Weekend

My little baby turned 4 yesterday...my how time flew by!  I hope it's true what they say..."fantastic fours".  Not that she's ever been THAT bad, but she certainly has her moments, but what kid doesn't?  On Friday night after Sydney went to sleep, I decorated the house with a banner and few signs, just to make her feel special.  When she woke up on Saturday, she came bursting into my room..."oh my gosh, Jasmine is on my door.  I just can't believe it, I see Arielle on the stairs".  This went on for a while...she got more exctied every time she saw a princess.  She kept saying, "I just don't know how they got here, I can't believe it."  And then she saw a huge wrapped present and couldn't even wait one second before tearing it open!  Jason and I bought her a dollhouse, and she loved it sooooo much.  She played with it all morning and almost forgot to eat breakfast!  And then all of a sudden she said, "wait a minute, you put those signs up, didn't you mommy?"  It was cute!

Things kind of went downhill after that!  I had a fun day planned for her, but when I looked into her eyes, she just didn't seem right, and sure enough, she had a fever!  On her birthday!  This can't happen!  I felt so bad for her.  We had planned to get her hair cut, pictures taken, and go to Chuck E. Cheese and Toys R Us that night, but I wasn't so sure.  But Sydney was determined!  I decided we would to the hair and pictures against my better judgement.  It's not that she acted poorly, I just don't like how things turned out.  The person at Sweet N' Sassy where she likes to get her hair done did a terrible job making it straight..I was so mad, and she wouldn't fix it...she didn't speak English very well and just didn't get it.  In turn, that kind of ruined the pictures, because I just didn't like how she looked.  It didn't help that her eyes looked kind of funny from being sick.  So, needles to say, I didn't order very many pictures.  I also wasn't very impressed with Portrait Innovations...they were way more than they advertised, and it was a total mob scene...I couldn't take the chaos...we won't be going back there!

And then we headed home with Grandma Sharon (she came with us on this chaotic adventure), and just told Grandpa Eliot to come to our house and give her a present since she wasn't feeling great.  And so they came over and gave her a Barbie themed gift...a dress up outfit, a Barbie mermaid, and purse and shoes, and a movie.  She was in heaven.  Grandma Sharon gave her an interactive Woody doll.  But we can't forget the swingset that all of the grandparents chipped in to buy!  Sydney loved all of her gifts, but she REALLY wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  And so we did...that's great parenting right there, huh?  As if there aren't enough germs in that place, I'm going to bring my sick kid.  I just felt bad for her on her birthday; if it were any other day, I wouldn't have taken her.  Besides, her fever wasn't very high...like 100.2.

As it turns out, she had a blast and didn't even act sick.  Lizzy was in heaven too!  I think this is the first time Lizzy has been able to participate in everything (we don't go there very often, I can't stand it, but anything for the kids)!  I think I ate the worst pizza I have EVER eaten...and I'm not a picky eater.  But oh well, this day wasn't for me!

And last but not least, Sydney had gotten some birthday money in the mail and we told her she could go to Toys R Us to pick something out.  I don't know how it happend, but we ended up a Barbie Escalade Hybrid car.  I had to drive all the way to Pontiac to get it after this very long day because Novi didn't have a Barbie one.  Again, I would have never done it that night if it weren't her birthday, but I wanted her to have a special day despite her being sick.  Jason slaved over it all  night and they woke up to it in our living room the next morning, and Sydney was fever free!!  Lizzy had no idea that it actually moved.  They got in and out of it all morning and had a blast.  They even sat in it for a couple hours and watched a movie...guess they thought they were at the drive-in!  That night, when the battery finally charged up, we took it outside. Lizzy was like, where are you taking this thing? We started out on the grass but it was just much easier in the street!  Lizzy was scared at first, but really loved Sydney driving her around.  We went around the block a couple of times!  Then we went out for ice cream, to the park, and finally BED!  It was a long weekend.  It actually turned out quite nice!  It's a good thing we didn't plan her big birthday party with friends and family for this weekend though!